Gate and cut-off for hoppers or storage-bins.



No. 655,967. Patented Aug. l4, I900. R. P. FELTDN. GATE AND GUT-OFF FOR HOPPERS 0R STORAGE BINS.

(Application filed. June 12, 1900.

( No Model.)

/NVENTOF? RALPH R F'ELTON HIS ATTQ RNE Y5.

VV/TNESSES m: mums PETERS co. PHOTD-LITHOA WASHINGTON, 0. c4

UNITED STATES RALPH P. FELTON, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

GATE AND CUT=OFF FOR HOPPERS OR STORAGE-BINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,967, dated August 14, 1900.

Application filed June 12, 1900. Serial No. 20,091. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH PTFELTON, of Minneapolis, Hennepin county, Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gates and Out-Offs for Hoppers or Storage-Bins, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to devices for controlling or regulating the discharge of coal, ore, or grain from a bin or hopper, and is designed especially for use in connection with railway coaling-stations, where devices are provided for ascertaining the weight of the coal discharged into each locomotive-tender. When the hopper-gateis raised, the coal will flow freely down the chute, and after the desired amount has been discharged several seconds must elapse before the operator can lower the gate sufficiently to shut off the flow, and during this time a greater amount of coal than is needed or desired might flow down the chute and be discharged into the locomotive-tender. In handlingsoftcoalalarge lump will frequently lodge in the chute beneath the gate and prevent it from closing, while allowing a stream of coal to flow continuously under the gate.

The primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide means within the control of the operator for quickly andeffectually closingthepassage-way of adischarge-chute below the hopper-gate to shut off the flow of coal while the gate is being closed or when it is prevented from being closed by material lodging under the same or from any other cause.

A further object is to provide means for positively controlling the flow of coal or other material in the chute and by which the operator, having drawn out a certain weight and closed the gate, may without raising the gate again add to the amount already discharged to make up any slight deficiency in weight.

The invention consists generally in various constructions and combinations, all as hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a hopper and chute with my invention attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line a; x of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail showingthe manner of sup porting one of the pivoted arms of the cut-off.

In the drawings, 2 represents the front wall of the hopper, having asuitable dischargeopening, within which the chute 3, forming a continuation of the bottom of the hopper, is arranged. The bottom of the hopper is inclined to direct the material toward the discharge-opening, and upon each side of the discharge-openin g I arrange an gle-bars 4, bolted to the hopper-wall, and brackets 5 and 6 are secured upon each side of the plate 7, said brackets having rollers 8 mou nted therein and adapted to slide in the guideways formed by the wall of the hopper and the inner flanges of the angle-bars 4. I prefer to provide a series of bent rods 9, preferably of steel-,having their lower ends substantially parallel and projecting below the lower edge of the plate 7 and secured thereon by the wide channel-barsflO,

arranged transversely on the plate 7 and securely riveted or bolted thereto. The plate 7, with the rods arranged thereon, forms a gate, which when lowered will shut off the flow of coal or other coarse material through the chute. Any suitable means may be employed for raising and lowering the gate. To prevent the discharge of any more coal from the hopper than is actually needed or desired, I prefer to provide a cutoff device that may be operated simultaneously with the lowering of the gate to close or bar the passage-way in the chute and almost instantly cut off the flow of material through the same. This cut-off device consists, preferably, of curved arms 11, one of which is pivotally supported on the upright standard or beam 12 beneath the chute and the other pivoted on abracket 13,secured to the bottom of the chute. These arms are substantially semicircular in form and of suitable material that will not be broken by oted arm to raise or lower the cut-off; but I prefer to employ the mechanism shown in the drawings, which consists in a ribbed lever 17, pivoted on the standard 12 and having its short arm pivotally connected with one of the arms 11 by a link 18. Near the lower end of the lever 17 I provide a guide-rack 19, secured on the standard 12 and prox ided near its opposite ends with notches 20, adapted to receive arib on the lever 17 and lock the cutoff device in either its raised or lowered position. By springing the lever 17 slightly the operator may disengage the rib from the notch with which itmay be in engagement, and the lever will then be free to swing to the opposite end of the rack.

I have shown an I-beam 21 extending horizontally beneath the discharge chute and serving as a support for the front of the hopper, and this arrangement necessitates curving the arms 11 down under the I-beam. Should the arrangement of the supportingbeam be modified and the I-beam 21 dispensed with, it is obvious that the arms 11 might be straight and the operation of the cut-oft still be substantially the same as heretofore described.

The mannerof using myimproved gate and cut-off is as follows: Starting with the vertically-movable gate closed and the hopper full of coal, the operator raises the gate sulficiently to permit the desired flow of coal. Before the desired amount ofcoalhas been withdrawn the operator lowers the gate sufliciently to reduce the flow of coal, and when the desired amount has been withdrawn raises the cut-off device until the discharge of coal from the chute is entirely stopped. If after closing the gate the operatorfinds that an additional amount of coal is .required, by lowering the cut-oft the coal that has been checked thereby in the chute will be allowed to flow out and make up any slight deficiency in weight of the quantity previously discharged. In this way the weight of the coal taken from the hopper may be very easily regulated and controlled.

I do not wish to confine myself to the use of the cut-off device in combination with the vertically-movable gate, as the former may be employed in some instances to regulate the discharge of material from the hopper or bin and the gate dispensed with.

In various ways the construction of the apparatus herein shown and described may be modified considerably by any one skilled in the art, and I therefore do not wish to be confined to the details set forth.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. The combination, with an inclined chute and a gate adapted to shut off the How of material through the same, of a cut-off device operating through the bottom of said chute below said gate and adapted to stop the flow of material that has passed under said gate during the operation of closing the same, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with an inclined chute and a gate adapted to stop the flow of material through the same, of a pivoted cut-off device operating through the floor or bottom of said chute below said gate and adapted to check the material that has passed under said gate during the operation of closing the same, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with an inclined chute and gate, said chute having a transverse slot in its floor or bottom below said gate, of a pivoted cut-off device operating through said slot to check the flow of material in said chute, and means for raising and lowering said cutoff device, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with an inclined chute and gate, said chute havinga transverse slot in its floor or bottom below said gate, of a cut-o6 device operating through said slot to cut ott the flow of material down said chute, and a pivoted plate or flap provided in said chute near said slot, for the purpose specified.

5. The combination, with a gravity-chute having a transverse slot in its door or bottom, of arms pivotally supported beneath said chute, a plate connecting said arms and means for reciprocating said arms to raise and lower said plate within said slot and cut off the flow of material through said chute or permit it to flow therein, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a gravity-chute, of semicircular arms pivotally supported beneath the same, a plate or blade connecting the free ends of said arms and means for projecting said plate through an opening in the floor of said chute to cut off the flow of material therein, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a gravity-chute,

having a transverse slot in its floor or bottom, of arms pivotally supported beneath said chute, a plate or blade connecting said arms, a pivoted lever, a link connecting said lever and one of said arms, whereby when said lever is operated said arms will be reciprocated and said plate projected through said slot to cut off the flow of material in said chute or withdrawn to permit the material to flow freely therein, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of June, 1900.

RALPH P. FELTON. In presence of- RICHARD PAUL, M. O. NOONAN.

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